Town Musician

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Mercury and Vitamin D Deficiency

I often ask myself where an autistic person's missing synapses went. Where did the thread break, and where can it be mended? How can the broken fabric be stitched back together? What if it were really as simple as giving a pill? There are two substances that are being mentioned in the context of autism. One is mercury; the other is vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency seems to be common in people with autism.

Mercury makes the most sense in connection with autism; after all many symptoms of mercury poisoning are similar to those in autism. What is more puzzling is the connection to vitamin D.

Why does vitamin D deficiency happen in mercury poisoning? It happens because mercury poisoning causes kidney damage, and kidney damage causes vitamin D deficiency. The following question then needs to be asked: Does vitamin D deficiency actually cause autism or is the deficiency an expression of what happens in the body of an autistic person due to mercury poisoning? In other words: Does vitamin D deficiency cause autism or does mercury cause autism which in turn causes vitamin D deficiency with all its related symptoms?

It has been established in the last 10 or 12 years (a vitamin D test has become available in the late '90s) that vitamin D deficiency is important in all kinds of bodily functions including diabetes, cancer and other serious illnesses. A lot more studies are needed to firmly establish a connection. What is really important to note, though, is that vitamins need to be taken seriously especially in our increasingly toxic world.

Now here it is one more time: Mercury is toxic! It causes vitamin D deficiency! And regardless of whether the two cause autism or not, lack of attention to those two facts may become very expensive in the long run.